ABSTRACT
The religiosity and social values of the first-generation Christian Tamils in Berne, similar to the religiosity of Tamil Hindus, seem closely related to conventions in the Tamil areas of Sri Lanka. The style of worship, the faith in miracles, the rules in connection with impurities or the contiguous importance of caste differentiation indicate the perpetuation of tradition. Hindus conversely tend to pragmatically incorporate Christian deities into their belief system and practices of worship. The style of religious practices may be closer to traditions of the homeland and to other religions, such as Hinduism, than to habits of the new country. The specific Tamil religiosity is it Christian or Hindu exported from the motherland' is perpetuated in exile as an extension of moral space'. It constitutes an important aspect of joint cultural', psychic, social and political identity, exemplified in the tombstone camatinatukal as a shared religious-political-historical symbol for all Tamils.
